Crucible assay-furnace.



No. 743,214. I PATENTED NOV, 3, 1903.

' '0- N. ANTHONY.

GRUCIBLE ASSAY FURNACE.

APPLICA' 1ION FILED AUG. 1, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CRUCIBLEASSAY-FURNACE.

QPEGIFIGATION forming part of LettersPatent N 0. 743,214, dated November3, 1903.

Application filed August 1., 1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES N. ANTHONY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Organ,

' in the county of Dona Ana and Territory of New Mexico, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Crucible Assay-Furnaces, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention isan improvement in that class of crucible assay-furnacesadapted to be heated by a jet of burning gas or gasolene forced underpressure by a suitable burner or blowpipe into the furnace, its objectsbeing to effect improvements in the construction of the furnace wherebycombustion of the gas or gasolene-vapor is promoted in the interior ofthe furnace, whereby the furnace is adapted to be more rapidly andthoroughly heated than heretofore, whereby an economy of fuel iseffected, and whereby the furnace is adapted to be heated to a uniformdegree throughout its entire interior extent.

lVit-h these and other objects in view the invention consists in theconstruction of a crucible assayfurnace with a plurality ofcommunicating chambers or bowls having outwardly and upwardly inclinedsides.

The invention further consists in the construction of a crucibleassay-furnace with inwardly-projecting baffles in its opposing sides,forming a plurality of communicating chambers intermediate the blastopening and flue or chimney.

The invention further consists in the construction of a crucibleassay-furnace with a chamber or bowl having its sides concavedlongitudinally and upwardly and outwardly inclined.

The invention further consists in the construction of a crucibleassay-furnace with a plurality of communicating chambers intermediatethe blast opening and flue or chimney and diminishing in size toward thelatter.

The invention further consists in the peculiar construction of thefurnace hereinafter specified, and set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification,Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal central sectional View of a crucibleassay-furnace constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is atop plan view of the same, and Fig. is a vertical Serial Nair/oval (Nomodel.)

transverse sectional view taken on a plane indicated by the line w w ofFig. 2.

' The furnace A is in practice made of fireclay or other suitablematerial and may be of any suitable dimensions and proportions withrespect to its several parts. At the front end of the furnace is theblast-opening a, through which the jet or blast of burning gas orgasolene vapor is discharged from a suitable burner or blowpipe into theinterior ofthe furnace. At the rear of the furnace is theupwardly-extending flue or chimney b. Intermediate the blast opening andflue or chimney are a plurality of communicating chambers or bowls, inwhich the charged crucibles are placed, so that their contents may befused or melted by the heat of the blast, the furnace being providedwith the usual cover 0, which is here shown as a number ofseparately-removable slabs of fireclay or other suitable material, whichenable the interior of the furnace and the contents of the crucibles tobe inspected.

The chamber or bowl (Z next the front end of the furnace is wider thanthe chamber or bowl e at the rear end thereof. These chamberscommunicate with each other at f and are partly separated from eachother by inwardlyprojecting baffles g, which extend from opposite sidesof the furnace and serve to choke or partly obstruct the passage fbetween the two chambers. The sides of the latter are curved or concavedlongitudinally to form the said baffles, as shown in Fig. 2, and arealso inclined upwardly and outwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, so that thesaid chambers have their upper open sides wider than their lower sides.By this construction of the sides of the chambers the heat is deflectedand distributed uniformly throughout the chambers, so that the same areheated to the same degree at all points. The chamber e at the rear endof the furnace is of less width than the chamber (1 at the front endthereof. The heat of the blast diminishes as it recedes from the frontend of the furnace; but by narrowing the rear chamber, constructing thewalls of the chamber cl so that heat will be deflected therefrom intothe rear chamher, and by constructing the walls of the latter in themanner hereinbefore described both chambers become heated to the samedegree. Furthermore, this construction of the walls of the chambers andthe provision of the balfles retards the passageof the blast through thefurnace and increases the area of the walls or sides of the chambersagainst which the blast of flame impinges when the crucibles are in thefurnace, thereby promoting the combustion of the gases or vapors duringtheir passage through the furnace, so that the gases or vapors areconsumed therein and are not allowed to escape unconsumed through theflue or chimney, thereby causing the chambers and the crucibles thereinto be the more thoroughly heated in less time and enabling an economy offuel to be effected, as will be understood. Another advantage gained bythis construction of the furnace is that by reason of the uniformtemperature to which the same is heated the contents of all thecrucibles therein are fused alike and the accuracy of the assaysincreased:

011 the floor of the furnace I place an absorbent bed of coarse andloose calcinedfireclay, (indicated at h in the drawings,) which variesin depth according to the height or size of the crucibles. This bedenables the vertical space in the bowls or chambers to be contracted asmay be required to secure the best results, affords a safe and cleanrest or support for the crucibles, and preserves the floor and sides ofthe furnace-chambers from the destructive action of the fusions spilledby the handling or breaking of the crucibles by accident. In a furnaceof the ordinary size the depth of the bed (which is preferably made ofbroken fire-brick about eight or ten mesh fine) is usually from one totwo and onehalf inches, being Varied according to the height or size ofthe crucibles and, together with the crucibles, which are indicated indotted lines in the various figures of the drawings, varies the area orareas of the crucible chamber or chambers to the heating capacity of theburner or blowpipe employed in connection wit-h the furnace, thusenabling the best results to be obtained. The bottoms of the cruciblesmay be embedded in this bed to any desirable extent to prevent thecrucibles from tipping. The covers 0 and the crucibles are handled byangled tongs when the furnace is in use.

WVhat is claimed as new, and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent,is

1. A crucible assay-furnace having blast and flue openings at oppositeends and inwardly-projecting upright baffles in its opposing sides,forming a plurality of communicatin g chambers intermediate theblast'opening and flue, and also forming an opening between saidchambers, coextensive in height therewith, said chambers beingdiminished in width progressively toward the flue, substantially asdescribed.

2. Acrucible assay-furnace having blast and flue openings at oppositeends and inwardly-projecting upright baffles in its opposing sides,forming a plurality of communicating chambers intermediate the blastopening and flue, and also forming an opening between said chambers,coextensive in height therewith, the sides of said chambers beingconcaved longitudinally and upwardly and outwardly inclined,substantially as described.

3. A crucible assay-furnace having blast and flue openings at oppositeends and inwardly-projecting upright bafiies in its opposing sides,forming a pair of communicatin'g chambers intermediate the blast andflue openings and also forming an opening between said chambers,coextensive in height therewith, the front chamber being Wider than therear chamber, and having its walls, near the blast-opening, disposed atsuch an angle as to deflect heat into the rear chamber, substantially asdescribed.

4. A crucible assay-furnace having blast and flue openings at itsrespective front and rear ends, and inwardly-projecting upright bafflesin its opposing sides, forming a pair of communicating chambersintermediate the blast and flue openings and also forming an openingbetween said chambers, coextensive in height therewith, said frontchamber being Wider than the rear chamber and having its walls near theblast-opening disposed at such an angle as to deflect heat into the rearchamber, and each of said chambers narrowing toward the flue-openin g,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

. CHARLES N. ANTHONY.

lVitnesses J. D. ISAACKS, J. H. JOHNSON.

